Udenwa wants naccima to review prices, Nigeria
Minister of Commerce and Industries, Achike Udenwa has appealed to the members of National Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, to find lasting solution to the prices of cement which have continued to soar.
Udenwa who said the government was making effort to ensure that both the citizens and the manufacturers are well protected as regards high cement prices, however accused the NACCIMA members of sabotaging government efforts on cement.
The Minister said this in Abuja when the members of National Association of Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) paid him a visit in his office.
He observed that some of the members of the association who are importers or dealers of the products usually hoard cement to create artificial scarcity so that price could come up, the situation which he said was not too good for the development of the economy.
He, therefore, called on them to cooperate with the government on its efforts to ensure that the products are available at a reduced price in the country and explained that government gave licences to the local manufacturers of cement to import when the local production could not meet the demand
Udenwa who said government did this not to create problem for the manufacturers but to ensure that the products are made available in the country through the manufacturer, however lamented that instead of the price to come down it is rather soaring high.
National President of the Association, Simon Okolo, in his address called on the government to contain the acute scarcity of cement and shot down the prices from their current Olympian heights by granting new permits to some identified existing potential cement manufacturers to import jumbo bags and where feasible, 50 kg bagged cement into the country.
Published under Cement News
